Warning

Tucked into the recesses of a locker room, Christopher Brooks Apodaca’s former locker stands as perhaps the most unknown memorial on the Northwest College campus. It sits two spots in from the end, adorned with the same style of black nameplate that announces the offices of the Trappers’ coaching staff.

The Northwest College men’s and women’s basketball programs suffered setbacks over the weekend, falling to Western Wyoming. For the Trapper men’s team, the loss was especially painful as the squad looked to jockey for position near the top of the Region IX North standings.

The second-ranked Powell Panthers combined an 8-1 performance on the mat with a host of forfeit victories to score a lopsided 67-6 dual victory over Greybull last week. The win kept the Panthers unbeaten this season in dual action.

The seventh-ranked Northwest College wrestling team was edged 27-19 by NAIA affiliated Montana State-Northern in wrestling dual action last Thursday. The dual was the college’s last before this weekend’s Apodaca Dual Showdown, which will wrap up the regular season for the Trappers.

The Northwest College men’s basketball team split a pair of Region IX contests last week, defeating Miles Community College 87-64 at home before falling on the road at Western Wyoming by an 81-73 final count.

Second-ranked Powell remained unbeaten in wrestling dual action this season with a 46-22 victory over visiting Billings West on Tuesday night. The win came despite the Panthers needing to juggle their lineup to account for illness and injury.

We’re around the halfway point of the winter sports seasons for everyone except that handful of indoor track types who just more or less started competition recently. As coaches, players and fans start to focus on the finish line at the end of the home stretch, it is obvious that plenty of excitement awaits.

The seventh-ranked Northwest College wrestling team returned from a lengthy road trip to begin the 2013 portion of their schedule with four victories in five duals. Northwest defeated No. 6 Colby, No. 10 Ellsworth, No. 12 Pratt and No. 14 Neosho on the heels of their stellar showing at the Utah Valley University open tournament.

The Northwest College men’s basketball team gave head coach Brian Erickson and their fans some nervous moments on Saturday against Little Big Horn, but used a strong second half to pull away for a 91-73 victory. The Trappers improved to 13-5 overall with the win and moved to an even 2-2 in Region IX North action.

A hot start to the 2013 portion of the schedule was not enough for the Powell Panther boys’ basketball team to find its way back into Class 3A’s top five, according to the latest round of coaches’ and media rankings at Wyopreps.com. The Panthers received the most votes of any unranked team in the poll.